Three vendors and two medical workers have been arrested in Lilongwe after they were found in possession of large quantities of medical supplies.

Three vendors identified as 30 year old Ezala Banda from Matunduzi village, Traditional Authority (TA) Kalolo of Lilongwe, 21 year old Adam Seven of  Matunduzi village, TA Ndindi in  Salima and 30 year old Bright Jeremiah from Nkhwani village, TA Ganya, Ntcheu were arrested at Lilongwe Market.

The other two arrested are medical personnel in the names of Wennie Malikebu Kaira who was working as a Medical Assistant at Kawale Health Clinic and Ernest Zulu who was working as a Pharmacy Technician at Bwaila hospital.

Speaking to Mana in an interview, Public Relations Officer for Central Region Police, John Namalenga said the vendors were arrested during a joint sweeping exercise between the police through its Anti Medical Drug Section and the Malawi Poisons Board to rid the district of illegal medical markets.

“The three were found in possession of a large sum of medical supplies on Monday and were arrested for possessing medical drugs. We are still calculating the total value of the medical items. The three are in our custody will appear before court as soon as investigations are completed,” said Namalenga.

A list of medical supplies which Namalenga said Banda, Seven and Jeremiah were found in possession of medical supplies equivalent to those contained in Primary Health Care (PHC) medicine Kits and  enough to cater for two urban health clinics.

The PHC medicine kits come under a special project courtesy of Norway, Britain and German and were introduced to address drug shortages in the country’s health system experienced from 2011.The medicines are procured by United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) and distributed by Unites States Aid Agency (USAID.

Public Relation Officer for Lilongwe District Health Officer (DHO) Alvin Chidothi Phiri speaking to Mana in a separate interview said Zulu and Malikebu were caught on 12 April 2013 but were arrested on 15 April 2013.